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Dental and Vision Insurance Open Season 11/12/07 – 12/10/07
11:59 PM Eastern Time Annual Leave Exchange Open Season 11/15/07 - 12/15/07
11:59 PM Central Time Thrift Savings Plan Open at any time The cut-off for each pay period is 3:59 AM. Central Time, 2nd Wed. of pay period (day 12). Granting Admin Leave Central Plains MIlitaryFAQ's on Military Leave Advanced Sick Leave Central Plains Annual Leave Annual leave is provided to employees for paid time off from regularly scheduled work hours. The charts below show how much annual leave is accrued for full-time and part-time employees. Annual leave for full-time employees is credited at the beginning of the leave year, while annual leave for part-time employees is accrued in units of 20, 13, or 10 hours worked. Military service time (in most cases) counts towards USPS service time for determining annual leave per year. (For example: If you served four years in the U.S. military prior to your employment with the USPS your initial annual leave amount would be in the 3-15 year category). Full-Time Employees | Service Time | Leave Per Year | Less than 3 years | 104 hours (13 days) | 3-15 years | 160 hours (20 days) | 15 years or more | 208 hours (26 days) |
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Part-Time Employees | Service Time | Leave Per Year | Rate of Accrual | Less than 3 years | 104 hours, or 13 days per 26-period leave year or 4 hours for each bi-weekly pay period. | 1 hour for each unit of 20 hours pay in status. | 3-15 years | 160 hours, or 20 days per 26-period leave year or 6 hours for each full bi-weekly pay period, plus 4 hours in last pay period in leave year. | 1 hour for each unit of 13 hours in pay status. | 15 years or more | 208 hours, or 26 days per 26-period leave year or 8 hours for each full biweekly pay period. | 1 hour for each unit of 10 hours in pay status. |
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Maximum Leave Carryover Amounts | - Bargaining Unit Employees: 440 hours (55 days)
- Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) Employees: Greater of 560 hours or 16 days (128 hours)
- EAS Employees: 560 hours (70 days)
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Family Medical Leave Act Your Rights Under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
From the U.S. Department of Labor FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to "eligible" employees for certain family and medical reasons. Employees are eligible if they have worked for a covered employer for at least 1 year, and for 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and if there are at least 50 employees within 75 miles. REASONS FOR TAKING LEAVE: Unpaid leave must be granted for any of the following reasons:
1. to care for the employee's child after birth or placement for adoption or foster care;
2. to care for the employee's spouse, son or daughter, or parent, who has a serious health condition; or
3. for a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee's job.
At the employee's or employer's option, certain kinds of paid leave may be substituted for unpaid leave.
ADVANCE NOTICE AND MEDICAL CERTIFICATION: The employee may be required to provide advance leave notice and medical certification. Taking leave may be denied if requirements are not met.
1. The employee ordinarily must provide 30 days advance notice when the leave is "foreseeable."
2. An employer may require medical certification to support a request for leave because of a serious health condition, and may require second or third opinions (at the employer's expense) and a fitness for duty report to return to work.
JOB BENEFITS AND PROTECTION
1. For the duration of FMLA leave, the employer must maintain the employee's health coverage under any group health plan.
2. Upon return from FMLA leave, most employees must be restored to their original or equivalent positions with equivalent pay, benefits, and other employment terms.
3. The use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that accrued prior to the start of an employee's leave.
UNLAWFUL ACTS BY EMPLOYERS: FMLA makes it unlawful for any employer to:
1. interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of any right provided under FMLA.
2. discharge or discriminate against any person for opposing any practice made unlawful by FMLA or involvement in any proceeding under or relating to FMLA.
ENFORCEMENT:
1. The U.S. Department of Labor is authorized to investigate and resolve complaints of violations.
2. An eligible employee may bring a civil action against an employer for violations.
- FMLA does not affect any Federal or State law prohibiting discrimination, or supersede any State or local law or collective bargaining agreement which provides greater family or medical leave rights.
Certification of Health Care Provider You can have your "serious health condition" classified under FMLA if certain conditions are met. The advantage to you for FMLA classification is that leave taken for a "serious health condition" does not count against you for disciplinary purposes. You should have your health provider complete form WH-380 (see link below) for a "serious health condition" that involves one of the following. (Submit completed form WH-380 to your immediate supervisor.) - Hospital Care - inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay)
- Absence Plus Treatment - a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days that also involves treatment of two or more times.
- Pregnancy - or for prenatal care
- Chronic Conditions Requiring Treatments - requiring periodic treatments or for treatment of episodic events such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.
- Permanent/Long-term Conditions Requiring Supervision - permanent or ongoing incapacity due to a condition such as Alzheimer's, a severe stroke, or the terminal stages of a disease.
- Multiple Treatments (Non-Chronic Conditions) - for multiple treatments such as for cancer (chemotherapy, radiation, etc.), severe arthritis (physical therapy), kidney disease (dialysis).
| The above is a synopsis of WH-380. The complete form, which contains complete "serious health condition" categories, is available online at the Department of Labor. Click here! The Adobe Acrobat Reader is required (.pdf format).
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Holiday Leave | Observed Holidays
The following 10 days are observed as holidays by the U.S. Postal Service. a. New Year’s Day - January 1.
b. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday - 3rd Monday in January.
c. Washington’s Birthday - 3rd Monday in February.
d. Memorial Day - Last Monday in May.
e. Independence Day - July 4.
f. Labor Day - 1st Monday in September.
g. Columbus Day - 2nd Monday in October.
h. Veterans’ Day - November 11.
i. Thanksgiving Day - 4th Thursday in November.
j. Christmas Day - December 25. Memorial Day of 2002 will be the first holiday on which mail handlers, if they choose, can take advantage of the new holiday leave provisions that are now part of Article 11 of the National Agreement. Under these new provisions, full-time and part-time regular employees may elect to receive up to eight hours of annual leave instead of holiday leave pay. In particular, under the new contract language, eligible employees (which means regular employees who are in a pay status "the last hour of the employee's scheduled workday prior to or the first hour of the employee's scheduled workday after the holiday") who work any part of their holiday or the day designated as their holiday may choose to receive additional annual leave instead of additional pay for working on the holiday. The annual leave option is available whether or not the employee volunteers or is required to work on his/her holiday or day designated as his/her holiday. If the employee elects to receive additional annual leave instead of additional holiday pay, the appropriate payment for hours that are actually worked on the holiday will still be paid. But holiday leave hours will not be paid, and instead the employee's annual leave balance will be adjusted by the number of hours to which the employee would be entitled (8 hours for full-time employees; up to 8 hours, depending on regular schedule, for part-time regular employees). Because the new leave will be credited as annual leave, it will be subject to the usual rules for using annual leave and/or losing annual leave if the employee is over the maximum leave carryover at the end of the leave year. |
The Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) administers both USPS retirement programs - the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The CSRS generally applies to employees who received a career appointment before January 1, 1984 while the FERS applies to employees whose initial career appointment was January 1, 1984 or later, and CSRS employees that elected to transfer to FERS. Both systems have the same purposes, however, both operate under a unique set of guidelines and rules. Many employees believe that USPS retirement benefits are some of the most substantial in the nation. Many, upon reaching retirement age, are shocked to learn that they will be facing a 50% to 75% or more loss in income after retirement. Although, postal retirement benefits may not be all that public legend has them to be, they can provide a secure retirement with the proper planning. Below, are brief overviews of each retirement system. (Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.) | Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) | Information from the OPM: | | Retirement Eligibility | Benefits are payable after... | Your Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) is | 30 years of service | Age 55 | 20 years of service | Age 60 | 5 years of service | Age 62 |
| | Retirement Percentages Based on Years of Service | 5 | 7.50% | 18 | 32.25% | 31 | 58.25% | 6 | 9.25% | 19 | 34.25% | 32 | 60.25% | 7 | 11.00% | 20 | 36.25% | 33 | 62.25% | 8 | 12.75% | 21 | 38.25% | 34 | 64.25% | 9 | 14.50% | 22 | 40.25% | 35 | 66.25% | 10 | 16.25% | 23 | 42.25% | 36 | 68.25% | 11 | 18.25% | 24 | 44.25% | 37 | 70.25% | 12 | 20.25% | 25 | 46.25% | 38 | 72.25% | 13 | 22.25% | 26 | 48.25% | 39 | 74.25% | 14 | 24.25% | 27 | 50.25% | 40 | 76.25% | 15 | 26.25% | 28 | 52.25% | 41 | 78.25% | 16 | 28.25% | 29 | 54.25% | 42 | 80.00% | 17 | 30.25% | 30 | 56.25% | 43 | 80.00% |
| | Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) | Information from the OPM: | | Retirement Eligibility | Benefits are payable with 30 years service. The minimum retirement age (MRA) is determined by an individual’s year of birth, as follows: | Year of Birth | Your MRA is age... | Before 1948 | 55 | In 1948 | 55 and 2 months | In 1949 | 55 and 4 months | In 1950 | 55 and 6 months | In 1951 | 55 and 8 months | In 1952 | 55 and 10 months | In 1953 - 1964 | 56 | In 1965 | 56 and 2 months | In 1966 | 56 and 4 months | In 1967 | 56 and 6 months | In 1968 | 56 and 8 months | In 1969 | 56 and 10 months | In 1970 and after | 57 | 20 years of Service | Age 60 | 10 years of Service | with a reduction of 5% for each
year under age 62 | 5 years of Service | Age 62 |
| | FERS Annuity | (Note: Second line of each income level indicates annuity with survivor deduction.) | High 3 Average Pay | Years of Creditable Service | Income | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 38,000 | 158 | 317 | 475 | 633 | 792 | 950 | 1108 | 1267 | | 143 | 285 | 428 | 570 | 713 | 855 | 998 | 1140 | 40,000 | 167 | 333 | 500 | 667 | 833 | 1000 | 1167 | 1333 | | 150 | 300 | 450 | 600 | 750 | 900 | 1050 | 1200 | 44,000 | 183 | 367 | 550 | 733 | 917 | 1100 | 1283 | 1467 | | 165 | 330 | 495 | 660 | 825 | 990 | 1155 | 1320 | 50,000 | 208 | 417 | 625 | 833 | 1042 | 1250 | 1458 | 1667 | | 188 | 375 | 563 | 750 | 938 | 1125 | 1313 | 1500 | 60,000 | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 1250 | 1500 | 1750 | 2000 | | 225 | 450 | 675 | 900 | 1125 | 1350 | 1575 | 1800 | 70,000 | 292 | 583 | 875 | 1167 | 1458 | 1750 | 2042 | 2333 | | 263 | 525 | 788 | 1050 | 1313 | 1575 | 1838 | 2100 |
| | Additional information about CSRS and FERS: | For more information about your retirement benefits please consult the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM ) at USPS.com: | | More information about your retirement benefits: | | Handbooks | |
Key Deadlines Program Activity Deadline Flexible Spending Accounts Open Season 11/12/07 - 12/29/07
5:00 PM Central Time Health Benefits Open Season 11/12/07 - 12/11/07
5:00 PM Central Time
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